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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23469955">I have loved you since we were 18</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomchickvh/pseuds/randomchickvh'>randomchickvh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Fluff, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Mentioned Losers Club (IT), One Shot, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, Swearing, no beta we die like men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:01:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,903</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23469955</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomchickvh/pseuds/randomchickvh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Among the Covid-19 panic Eddie has to somehow deal with being cooped up with his mother without his friends around him. Luckily Richie has the perfect app for distractions. But what if Eddie decides that posting videos of his own would be fun?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I have loved you since we were 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Full disclosure, I wrote this in less than 12 hours and didn't get anything checked by anyone else before posting. The title comes from a One Direction song I keep seeing on my Tiktok.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As soon as he heard the news, Eddie felt his stomach drop. Covid-19 was officially in his state. New York University had already been closed for a week and he thought that was hell. At least he was still allowed to see his friends in small doses. But now? He knew his mother wouldn’t let him leave the house for even a second. </p>
<p>He went to text his friends the news, but his mom barged in before he could type a single word.</p>
<p>“Eddie-bear! Thank goodness you’re still here! I told you that disgusting disease would be here. I bet one of your ‘friends’ has it and has infected your poor system.” Sonia’s voice got higher pitched as she was talking. </p>
<p>Eddie resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He hated it when she said anything about his friends, but knew from experience that reacting in any way would make whatever she said next even worse.</p>
<p>“With your delicate immune system, you aren’t going to leave this house until I can make sure that it’s safe for you. Are you feverish? You probably already have it from spending so much time outside. I knew that it wasn’t safe. This is why you need to listen to me Eddie-bear!” Sonia went to touch his face to feel for a fever. Finally Eddie’s resolve broke.</p>
<p>“I feel fine mommy.” He pushed her hands away as he spoke.</p>
<p>“How can we know that for sure? Especially after you went to that dirty farm the other day. I’m sure those sheep are riddled with disease!”</p>
<p>“Sheep can’t get it the way people do mommy. I looked it up before I went to Mike’s farm.”</p>
<p>“That’s my good boy. But we can’t be too safe. Not with how delicate you are. Go to your room Eddie-bear. I’m going to the store to get cleaning supplies and then we are disinfecting this house from top to bottom. I need to make sure my Eddie-bear is safe.”</p>
<p>Eddie sighed, “yes mommy.” He left to go up to his room but he was stopped by a small cough.</p>
<p>“Aren’t you forgetting something Eddie-bear?” She looked at him expectantly as he turned around. Even without anyone else around, Eddie still blushed.</p>
<p>“Mom I’m 22! Do I really need to?”</p>
<p>“Do you not love me anymore Eddie-bear?”</p>
<p>Eddie saw the guilt trip that would last days coming from a mile away. Slowly he went to his mother and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I love you mommy.”</p>
<p>“I love you too my good boy.” She then took her car keys and left for the store.</p>
<p>As soon as the car was out of the driveway,, Eddie buried his head in his hands and groaned. He knew this was coming but it doesn’t mean he was prepared for his moms reaction.</p>
<p>Once he was in his room, Eddie finally unlocked his phone to text his friends. He had 25 text notifications from the group chat but instead of reading them, he simply let them know about his house arrest.</p>
<p>Not even a minute later, he was getting a phone call from Richie.</p>
<p>“Hey Rich.”</p>
<p>“Are you seriously stuck in your house Eds?”</p>
<p>“Not even gonna say hi?” Eddie chuckled to himself at that. “I’m pretty much stuck in my room until everything passes over. Probably even after the state is cleared too. She already thinks that I’m sick from one of you or the sheep at Mike’s farm.”</p>
<p>Richie let out a low whistle. “Damn Eds. Now what am I supposed to do? How am I going to survive without seeing your cute face every day?” Eddie blushed at the compliment. He knew that Richie was joking, but his stomach always fluttered when it happened. Something about your crush complimenting you would do that. </p>
<p>“Somehow I think you’ll survive Rich.” Eddie rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. Especially when he heard a groan come from his phone.</p>
<p>“No I won’t Eds! I’m going to die from a lack of vitamin CE!”</p>
<p>“Vitamin CE?”</p>
<p>“Vitamin Cute Eddie! Duh.”</p>
<p>“Whatever asshole.That’s not even a real thing.” Eddie did his best to keep his voice calm, but all he wanted to do was confess to Richie right then.</p>
<p>“It totally is. Why else do you think I wanted to room with you? So I could get my daily dose!”</p>
<p>“Sure Rich. If it’s really that important to you, I’ll still have my phone and laptop so we can Facetime or something.”</p>
<p>“Welllllllllllll I guess that’ll do. But it still sucks.” Eddie swore he could hear the pout in Richie’s voice. </p>
<p>“You’re gonna take what you get Tozier.” Eddie didn’t even try to keep the happiness out of his voice. Bickering like this with Richie always made him happy.</p>
<p>“Getting bossy with me Kaspbrak? You know how much I like that.” Eddie could picture Richie wiggling his eyebrows. Laughing slightly, he stopped when he heard his mom's car in the driveway.</p>
<p>“Shit. I gotta go Rich. My mom’s home and she said we’re going to clean the whole house.”</p>
<p>“So, you’re going to clean the whole house?”</p>
<p>Eddie sighed. “Yep. I’ll text you later.”</p>
<p>“Bye Eds!”</p>
<p>Eddie went to retort but the line was dead before he could. Under his breath he muttered “don’t call me Eds dickwad.”</p>
<p>Cleaning the house went faster than Eddie was expecting. It probably had something to do with the fact that he had cleaned the house just a few days ago. Once his job was up to Sonia’s standards, she made him a small lunch and banished him to his room until dinner.</p>
<p>He knew that his mother meant well, but in times like this he felt like a modern day Cinderella.</p>
<p>He laid down on his bed with the intent to listen to music and scroll through Twitter for as long as possible. This hope was dashed when he saw all the notifications he had from Richie. As much as he denied it, Richie was a little clingy. There was a reason he had his read receipts turned on. It helped with Richie’s anxiety knowing that people responded to him quickly.</p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Edsssssss I know you’re cleaning but I have videos to send you! </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Link: tiktok </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Link: tiktok </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Link: tiktok </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Link: tiktok </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Link: tiktok </em>
</p>
<p>Quickly Eddie responded. </p>
<p>
  <em> I haven’t opened them yet. What the hell is a tiktok? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TIKTOK IS????????? IT’S SUCH A DUMB APP I FUCKING LOVE IT </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> WATCH THE VIDEOS NOW AND TEXT ME WHAT YOU THINK </em>
</p>
<p>Shaking his head with a chuckle Eddie went to click on the first link. After watching all five videos of horrible dad jokes Eddie texted back.</p>
<p>
  <em> Those were so dumb </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I know right??? You should get the app. There’s so much dumb shit on there it’s amazing. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> If I get it will you stop sending me videos? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Hell no spaghetti!  </em>
</p>
<p>Eddie laughed at the response he knew he was going to get</p>
<p>
  <em> Ugh, whatever. </em>
</p>
<p>As much as Eddie didn’t want to admit it, he immediately downloaded TikTok. He figured that he could find annoying videos to send back to Richie as a form of payback for the bad jokes he had already gotten. </p>
<p>When it came to the handle for his account, the only thing in his mind was getting through the process quickly. So he put the first thing that came to his mind. With that, the account DrEds was created. </p>
<p>Before he knew it, Eddie had spent hours scrolling through Tiktok. He didn’t have any type of content that he liked more than others, but he was envious of the dancers. They had so much confidence to post dances like that, and he wished he was that brave. </p>
<p>“Eddie-bear! Time for dinner! Wash your hands thoroughly, you know how delicate you are.”</p>
<p>Eddie sighed and went to eat with his mother. He left his phone in his room. If his mom saw him texting at dinner or somehow saw the app he had downloaded he was going to be in a world of hurt.</p>
<p>Dinner lasted an uncomfortably long time for Eddie. He had learned to smile and nod at what his mom was saying years ago, but it didn’t mean that he liked it. Especially since he had spent the majority of his college career living with Richie. </p>
<p>Looking at his phone he had missed a lot in the group chat. Apparently Richie had started to harass their group chat with videos too. He scrolled through the chat, not really paying attention to what was being said. He learned early on that if you missed something in the loser’s chat, it was easier to jump in where the conversation was instead of reading everything. </p>
<p>He also noticed that Richie had sent him a video privately.</p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Link: tiktok </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> You should do this, bet you’d be able to pull it off ;) </em>
</p>
<p>Opening it, Eddie realized that it was someone dancing to Cannibal by Kesha. Eddie’s face went beet red. Richie had apparently seen a dance that was kinda sexual, and thought of him. Trying to cover that he was flustered he responded quickly.</p>
<p>
  <em> Very funny trashmouth lol </em>
</p>
<p>The response was immediate</p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth:</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I wasn’t joking but go off I guess lol </em>
</p>
<p>Eddie didn’t respond. His head was swimming with ideas. What if he did post a dance video or two? They looked like fun and he doubted that any of his friends would find his account. As far as he knew, only Richie had an account and this was the only time he’d mentioned actually watching a dance video.</p>
<p>Eddie decided that he’d start slow and record one. If he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t post it and no one would ever know about the attempt. </p>
<p>Feeling anxious Eddie watched the Cannibal video until he felt that he could do the dance well enough to record it.</p>
<p>As soon as the camera was in front of him and counting down to record Eddie felt a surge of confidence. He had no clue where it came from but it made him smile and get into the music. He enjoyed it so much that he posted it without thinking.</p>
<p>Smiling to himself he decided that if he saw any other dances that interested him he’d try to learn them. Nothing had to get posted but the videos were fun to make and that’s all that mattered.</p>
<p>Over the course of a week Eddie had done dances to Renegade, Say So, Savage, and his personal favorite, Cyber Sex.</p>
<p>He had no clue where the confidence came from but it was always there when he was dancing. For a minute he could feel like he was free from expectations.</p>
<p>It didn’t hurt that none of his friends had found his account either. He didn’t want to be embarrassed around his friends, but he had no clue how he would explain any of this to him.</p>
<p>He and Richie had kept sending each other videos every day. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Eddie loved that this had become a thing for the two of them. It made him feel special. It made him feel as though he potentially had a chance with him. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he got a notification.</p>
<p>“Speak of the devil and he shall appear.” Eddie said softly to himself as he opened the text.</p>
<p>Eddie felt his stomach drop when he saw what it said.</p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I think I found the love of my life on TikTok. Holy shit Eds he’s perfect </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> He’s so cute. I can’t stop watching his videos </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I can’t help but smile when he’s on my screen </em>
</p>
<p>Eddie knew that Richie was more than likely joking, but it still hurt to hear about Richies crush. He felt a few tears slide down his face, he hadn’t realized how much it would hurt to hear Richie talk about someone.</p>
<p>Instead of responding like he normally would, Eddie just typed back “nice” and put his phone on do not disturb. He didn’t want to have any part in this conversation anymore. </p>
<p>It took too long but he eventually fell asleep, still crying softly. </p>
<p>Once he woke up, he finally felt as though he could check his phone. If he was brave enough to make a TikTok he was brave enough to hear about whoever had stolen Richie’s heart.</p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth </b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> He’s literally perfect Eds </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I’ve never felt this way about anyone </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> He’s so cute </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I know I normally joke about these things but I’m not joking about how much I love him </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Eds? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Are you there? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I guess you fell asleep </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I’m gonna send you my favorite one from him, please please please text me when you watch it </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Link: tiktok </em>
</p>
<p>Eddie was so distracted by hyping himself up to watch the video that he didn’t pay attention to the name of the account or the thumbnail before he clicked on the link. </p>
<p>After clicking on it, he immediately closed his eyes. Unable to physically watch the video. But the music sounded familiar. It was Cyber Sex, one of the songs he had danced to just a few days ago. Of course Richie had a crush on a dancer. How could Eddie ever compete with that?</p>
<p>Once he heard the music loop for the third time he finally had the courage to actually watch the video. Opening his eyes, he felt his breath catch in his throat. </p>
<p>On his screen was himself. </p>
<p>Richie had found his TikTok. </p>
<p>Fuck. </p>
<p>He immediately stated panic texting. </p>
<p>
  <em> Fuck </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> You weren’t supposed to find that </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I’ve just been bored so I figured I could do the stupid dances or whatever  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Please pretend that this never happened </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Fuck man </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> This is so embarrassing  </em>
</p>
<p>Eddie could tell that Richie had read the texts but didn’t respond for an hour. An hour spent pacing and swearing in his room. An hour spent with his anxiety. </p>
<p>The response he got after so long? Another TikTok. </p>
<p>
  <b>Trashmouth</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Link: tiktok  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Please watch this and call me as soon as you do Eds  </em>
</p>
<p>Wondering what could be so important that it warranted a phone call, Eddie clicked on the link. </p>
<p>The screen was black, but Eddie would recognize that voice anywhere. </p>
<p>“So yesterday an account came across my for you page. It was a dance video and normally I skip past those. But this one was different. Because this time I recognized the bedroom it took place in. And I recognized the dancer. It was this guy.” A picture of the two of them from last semester popped up on the screen. “It was the shorter one of the two of us. The one who looks like he could dance instead of being one of those inflatables outside of dealerships. And the crush that I’ve had for at least five years hit me with full force. After so many years of pining this was the straw that broke my back. So I made this video for him. I’m in love with you Eds.”</p>
<p>In shock he watched the video again. Just to make sure his mind wasn’t playing tricks again. It wasn’t. The second loop showed the same exact thing as the first. Immediately he called Richie on FaceTime. </p>
<p>He answered on the first ring. </p>
<p>“Hiya Ed’s” his voice sounded sheepish and nervous. “Guess you watched the video” </p>
<p>“Did you mean it? That you’re in love with me?” Eddie blurted it out. He needed to know that it wasn’t some elaborate joke. </p>
<p>Richie sighed “yeah. Yeah I did. I’m in love with you. Have been since we were 18. I know I probably freaked you out but I had to let you know. I completely understand if you don’t want to be friends anymore.”</p>
<p>“I love you too.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Rich. I am completely head over heels in love with you too.” </p>
<p>“Holy shit. I wasn’t expecting that.”</p>
<p>“I wasn’t either when you sent me my own video.” </p>
<p>“I couldn’t help it. You’re just perfect. And the dance you chose? If I hadn’t told you after watching you move like that, I think I would’ve died” </p>
<p>“You’re being over dramatic” </p>
<p>“No I’m not Ed’s! You looked so good and happy. And those body rolls? You never told me you could do those! I think my brain actually short circuited.”</p>
<p>Eddie laughed at that, feeling relieved. Confessing had taken a weight off his shoulders that he hadn’t known was there. </p>
<p>After a moment of comfortable silence between the two, Richie spoke up again. </p>
<p>“I know that your mom won’t let you leave your room because of this quarantine stuff, but once it’s lifted, would you want to go on a real date with me? As boyfriends?”</p>
<p>Richie looked nervous as he spoke. It was a weird expression for someone who was normally so confident. </p>
<p>Eddie started beaming. </p>
<p>“100% yes. As long as we talk on FaceTime at least every other day until then.”</p>
<p>“It’s a done deal Ed’s.”</p>
<p>Both boys were smiling at each other with pure adoration. </p>
<p>“Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean that you can call me Eds.”</p>
<p>“It’s literally your TikTok handle! That means you like the nickname!”</p>
<p>Eddie rolled his eyes and scoffed slightly. </p>
<p>“Fine I won’t call you Eds. How about Angel instead?”</p>
<p>Eddie blushed and nodded. </p>
<p>“That’ll do. I love you.”</p>
<p>“I love you too my angel.”</p>
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